Not enough potassium sorbate?

[Jnolen]

Hello all,
I fermented my first 5 gallon AJ batch to 1.000 after about 3 weeks... I then back sweetened with concentrate and added 3 teaspoons of potassium sorbate and put it back in the fridge at about 50 degrees. It's been 3 days and it looks to be still fermenting. Should I add more sorbate or give up on that and pasterurize? Thoughts?
Thanks in advance guys!

-Jeremy

 

[Yooper]

Hello all,
I fermented my first 5 gallon AJ batch to 1.000 after about 3 weeks... I then back sweetened with concentrate and added 3 teaspoons of potassium sorbate and put it back in the fridge at about 50 degrees. It's been 3 days and it looks to be still fermenting. Should I add more sorbate or give up on that and pasterurize? Thoughts?
Thanks in advance guys!

-Jeremy

Potassium sorbate works by inhibiting yeast reproduction. If you have plenty of yeast in suspension, even inhibitint yeast reproduction won't slow down fermentation, or keep it from restarting.

You always want to stabilize BEFORE backsweetening. At this point, you'll have to let it ferment out completely. Rack off of any lees, and wait until it's completely clear and rack it again. Then stabilize by using one campden tablet per gallon, crushed and dissolved, and 2/3 teaspoon sorbate per gallon. Three days after that, if it's still completely clear, you can sweeten as desired. It seems as if a couple of steps may have been left out in the first go-round.

 

[Jnolen]

Thanks for the insight, I was following the advice of another homebrewer, your method seems more thorough.